The Buffalo Harbor Museum has been established to increase and diffuse knowledge and appreciation of maritime history, art and science and in particular as related to the City of Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier.

To that end, the Buffalo Harbor Museum has established a maritime museum to collect, preserve and display objects of historic, artistic and scientific interest. Open to the public, the museum exhibits provide an overview to the history and development of the waterfront while relating artifacts and photographs to the trade and industry that made Buffalo the port of commerce. A research library is maintained by the museum and is open to the public along with regular meetings that feature guest speakers who discuss topics of maritime interest.

The museum publishes a bimonthly newsletter that details recent maritime activity in and around the Harbor of Buffalo, and features historical articles about significant harbor events,and people and ships that have had a significant role in the City's rich maritime past.

A book about the development of the Buffalo Harbor was published by the Buffalo Harbor Museum in 2011: "The Buffalo Waterfront - A History in Pictures," is the definitive guide to Buffalo's Inner and Outer Harbor, the Erie Basin, and the Black Rock Canal.

Most recently, The Buffalo Harbor Museum published "Fire and Water: Disasters on the Buffalo Harbor and Surrounding Waterfront" in 2015. It is a comprehensive volume of disasters on water and shorelines of the Niagara region that made headlines.